Thousands flock to see Clitheroe bonfire spectacular

Clitheroe Castle Bonfire and Fireworks Display committee is celebrating after another resounding success delivering a safe, community event with proceeds of over £5,000 towards local groups and charities.
Clitheroe Bonfire spectacular - photo by David BleazardClitheroe Bonfire spectacular - photo by David Bleazard
Clitheroe Bonfire spectacular - photo by David Bleazard

"We are very, very proud of how Saturday night went – and we couldn’t have asked for a better crowd atmosphere on the Castle Field," said chairman Andy Belcham. "We always get great feedback on the event, with this year being no exception as the bonfire proved to as busy as ever. It’s no easy task to deliver a well-planned and safe event, bringing thousands of people onto the field and off again in the space of just a few hours."

The evening started out with the snazziest wellies being selected from the crowd to light this year’s bonfire. The lucky winners were Evie and Amelia Sedgwick and Scarlett and Paul Getty from Clitheroe. This followed with another lucky family, Lily and Grace Milligan, from Rishton, being selected for the fireworks countdown. Earlier in the day, Clitheroe Town Mayor, Stewart Fletcher and his wife, Kerry, the Mayoress, were busy judging the “Best guy” competition on the castle field. Faced with a fantastic range of entries from local schools, This year’s winner went to Year 2 from Chatburn Primary School. Stewart and Kerry were impressed by the attention to detail the students had put into him. Second place, meanwhile, went to Thorneyholme Primary School, which they loved his retro style. This year's runners up went to Pendle Primary School and St Micheal and St John’s Primary School Art Club. A £75 prize will be presented to the winners, £50 for second prize whilst those in third place will receive £25.

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"There are so many people to thank who are behind the scenes on events like these and we will be writing to them all over the coming weeks, but a special mention is due to Banana News for their outstanding ticket selling and Peter Bryan, at Rufus Carr, who provides us with the Control Van each year," explained Andy. "We run a professional event, and everyone involved gives their valuable time and resource to ensure a well-organised, fun, and safe event for all the family to enjoy. It’s not all about what we do on the day - which this year included trying to build the bonfire in the midst of a rugby world cup final, there is a lot of work to do in the months running up to November 2nd to pull this off and each year we fine-tune things to make it even better than the last."

He added: "More importantly, all of the Castle Bonfire proceeds go to our local groups and charities nominated by our fabulous Facebook followers which this year are; Foundation for Ribble Valley Families, Ribble Valley Foodbank, Reach out Early Intervention and Wellbeing, Clitheroe Wolves Football, Child Action North West, Life Education, Ribble Valley Crossroads Care Chatburn C of E School."

The Clitheroe Castle Bonfire and organised fireworks display is a large-scale community event that draws thousands of people together from across the town and the Ribble Valley. The event is widely supported by members of Clitheroe’s many service club organisations including Clitheroe Lions, Clitheroe Rotary, Ribblesdale Rotary and Clitheroe Round Table.

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